New Zealand

Customs Act 1996
Excise Regulation 9
"Any person who produces beer, wine or spirits for his or her own consumption is exempt from excise tax"

Tom : The story of how distilling became legal in New Zealand is rather interesting. It all dates back to the last Labour Government in the mid 80's when they decided in their wisdom that Government Departments would be sold off to private enterprise, turned into State owned enterprises (companies) or in the case of Departments like Customs which couldn't realy do either, be run like businesses and make a profit where ever possible. During the redrafting of our liquor laws 1989/90 the Customs Department put it to the Goverment that if they were supposed to be business like why did they have to check on all licenced stills in the Country where they only collected revenue from the ones that made alcohol. The solution to the problem ? Make the ownership of a still no longer ilegal which they did by simply removing that section from the act. Very shortly after this became the case two bright sparks by the name of Peter Wheeler and Malcolm Wheeler (yes the same ones that wrote the book and own Spirits Unlimited) decided that if the ownership of a still was no longer ilegal then they would start selling them to the general public. This created a beautiful catch 22 for Customs, under the Customs act if you distilled alcohol you had to have a licence and pay excise tax, but the thought of policing home stills for small amounts of alcohol filled them with horror so they made an internal policy that although there was nothing to stop them licencing home stills that they wouldn't do it. This left them in another no win situation, the maximum fine under the act was $500 and consfiscation of the offending alcohol, the cost of a prosecution several thousand dollars so they didn't deem that to be an efficient use the their money either so they largely turned a blind eye to it all. After many submissions to Government (myself included) when the liquor laws where changed again in October 1996 sanity prevailed and the customs act was changed and the word spirits added into the part about brewing beer, wine or the growing of tobacco for your own use was free of excise tax. This is a pretty unique set of circumstances which are unlikely to be replicated overseas I would have thought although I believe that there is a lot of pressure for Australia to follow and we are watching with great interest to see if it happens.

Des : The situation to some extent got too big for the government to control and as the product being produced could not be faulted on health grounds (yes it was tested by "the powers that be") there was really no other choice but to legalise it. In about September 1995 it was estimated that there were close to 2000 stills, capable of producing alcohol, being used as 'ornaments' in the Auckland city alone. A number of us interested parties made submissions to our local members of parliament and the governing bodies in support of the law change. There have really been no problems and so long as it stays that way other governments may eventually see the light. However it must be remembered that alcohol production is a good, easy, and inexpensive source of tax revenue to any government. For this reason I urge all NZers to 'play the game' and abide by the rules. We have something unique to be cherished.

Australians

House of Reps discussion from Hansard in May 2006 re Act 74:

Mr FITZGIBBON-
...
The Spirits Act, which provides for controls over the manufacture of spirits, including brandy, whisky and rum, and methylated spirits, is repealed on the basis that most of the provisions it contains are adequately covered in the Excise Act or are no longer relevant to the effective management of the alcohol taxation regime. The Distillation Act, which provides controls on the distillation of spirits, including stills, distilleries, licences and fortification of Australian wine, is also repealed. I understand Senator Murray has sought to refer some matters relating to alcohol to the Senate Economics Legislation Committee. I make the point, having learned he has done so, that the government made a commitment that there would not be any changes to alcohol taxes in this country on a piecemeal basis, that any change or review of alcohol taxes in this country would be done in a holistic way by looking at every sector in the industry-that is, wine, beer and spirits.

Act 74 2006

This *Act* works in conjunction with the / Excise Tariff Amendment (Fuel Tax Reform and Other Measures) *Act* 2006/ to:

* clarify the arrangements for using imported inputs to excise manufacture;
* streamline and clarify the current arrangements for concessional spirits (alcohol that is used for a purpose other than consumption as an excisable beverage);
* strengthen controls over tobacco leaf, which has a high potential excise liability, and acts against a beer excise revenue avoidance practice;
* make improvements to excise licensing provisions to make renewal periods consistent and to allow better capacity for licensing to be used as a compliance tool to protect the excise revenue;
* amend certain provisions of the /Excise *Act* *1901*/ to remove a number of prescriptive and interventionist requirements that are *no* longer in step with modern administrative or business practice. Along with the streamlined schedule, this will assist excise manufacturers in understanding and complying with the legislation;
* repeal a number of Acts (/Coal Excise *Act* 1949/, /Spirits *Act* 1906/ and /*Distillation* *Act * *1901*/) that impose obligations on affected businesses, but which are *no* longer considered necessary. Those provisions of the /Spirits *Act* 1906/ and /*Distillation* *Act **1901*/ that continue to be required are transferred to the /Excise *Act* *1901*/; and
* repeal a number of fuel related Acts that are *no* longer required because of the fuel tax reforms

> see: Excise Laws Amendment (Fuel Tax Reform and Other Measures) Act 2006
> Search for No. 74, 2006 on http://www.comlaw.gov.au

OK that was an amendment act, so now you need to look at what they have done to the actual acts. They have repealed the Distillation Act and put the relevant parts inside the Excise Act 1901. Housekeeping if you will. Here are the relevant sections:

Part III-Manufacturers, producers and dealers Division 1-Manufacturers 25 Only licensed manufacturers to manufacture excisable goods
(1) A person who does not hold a manufacturer licence must not intentionally manufacture excisable goods knowing, or being reckless as to whether, the goods are excisable goods. Penalty: 2 years imprisonment or the greater of:
(a) 500 penalty units; and
(b) 5 times the amount of duty that would be payable if the goods had been entered for home consumption on the penalty day. Note: See section 4AA of the Crimes Act 1914 for the current value of a penalty unit.
(2) A person who does not hold a manufacturer licence must not manufacture excisable goods. Penalty: 100 penalty units.
(3) Strict liability applies to subsection (2).

AND:

77FK Offence in relation to stills
(1) A person commits an offence if:
(a) the person does any of the following things:
(i) makes or commences to make any still;
(ii) removes, sets up or erects any still;
(iii) sells or otherwise disposes of, or purchases or otherwise acquires any still, either by itself or with other property, or as part of any premises;
(iv) imports any still;
(v) has possession, custody or control of any still; and
(b) the still is of a capacity exceeding 5 litres; and
(c) the person is not a licensed manufacturer; and
(d) the person has not been given permission by the CEO to do the thing.

Penalty: 50 penalty units.

(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to an act done by an officer in the course of performing a function or exercising a power under this Act or the Excise Tariff Act 1921.

Note: A defendant bears an evidential burden in relation to the matter in subsection (2) (see subsection 13.3(3) of the Criminal Code).

(3) The CEO may, in writing, give a person permission to do a thing mentioned in paragraph (1)(a).

(4) A permission under subsection (3) is not a legislative instrument.

***
So, nothing major has changed, stills <= 5L are still legal.
Manufacturing alcohol without a licence still isn't.
Under 77FE and 7FF though you can apply for permission to distill for industrial, manufacturing, scientific, medical, veterinary or educational purpose, either a once off or a specific amount per month or year.

This amendment does not discuss the legality of *using* a still, which initially made me think that it was legal to make whatever with an unregistered still of under 5 litres, so I phoned the Tax Office licensing division on their service number 1300-137-290 and spoke to a bloke there who explained that under the Excise Acts, "manufacture of any excisable product attracts excise", no matter how it's produced. Spirits are excisable products, so even a small still used at home to produce spirits is subject to excise.

Americans

Spirits
You cannot produce spirits for beverage purposes without paying taxes and without prior approval of paperwork to operate a distilled spirits plant. [See 26 U.S.C. 5601 & 5602 for some of the criminal penalties.] There are numerous requirements that must be met that make it impractical to produce spirits for personal or beverage use. Some of these requirements are paying special tax, filing an extensive application, filing a bond, providing adequate equipment to measure spirits, providing suitable tanks and pipelines, providing a separate building (other than a dwelling) and maintaining detailed records, and filing reports. All of these requirements are listed in 27 CFR Part 19.

Ray emailed the BATF for the reference statutes concerning home distillation. Here is their response:

Ray, you have not been able to locate anything on home production because there is no provision for it. Moonshining is still illegal!! Unlike wine or beer, the laws and regulations governing distilled spirits contain no provision that would allow someone to produce spirits in their home for personal use. Under 26 U.S.C. Section 5171 operations as a distiller, warehouseman or processor may be conducted only on the bonded premises of a qualified distilled spirits plant. To qualify such a plant, a registration, application for permit and bond must be filed in addition to other supporting organizational documents. 26 U.S.C. 5178 places restrictions on where a plant can be located. Hope this answers your question.

Carol Coy
Industry Specialist
National Revenue Center-Cincinnati, OH
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
e-mail: cjcoy@cinc.atf.treas.gov

State (varies from $75-$3,150 per year) & a Federal license ($500 per year) plus State & Fed. production taxes. Registration of all supplies, suppliers, formulas (Subject to classification and approval) and label reg. (Subject to classification and approval). More paperwork than money. If you already have a brewery or winery (bonded premisis) an "alternation of premisis" may be obtained to operate a distillery (with the additional license) on site. Well worth the trouble, because there is still room at the top.

How to obtain an alcohol fuel permit in the US. Here are some basic guidelines to get you started.

For fed. rules and regs. Go to http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov .

In the browse box, select "title 27"
Where it says "browse parts" click on the numbers "1-199"
Scroll down to "part 19" (Distilled spirits plant)and click on the numbers "19.1 to 19.1010"
You are only interested in "subpart Y" (Distilled spirits for fuel)

If you just want to produce fuel for personal use, and to be used on your own property, you aren't subject to bonds, taxes, and denaturing your product unless it is removed from the premises.

If this is what you want, then you will want to choose the "small plant" ( less than 10,000 proof-gallons per year)A proof-gallon is a US gallon times proof divided by 100.

For an on line permit application – click on the following link… http://www.ttb.gov/forms/pdfs/f510074.pdf

Or you can call them toll free and request a permit packet. There is no charge for the permit


Tax and Trade Bureau
National Revenue Center
550 Main Street Suite 8002
Cincinnati, Ohio 45202
Toll Free 1-877-TTB-FAQS (1-877-882-3277)
(513)-684-3334

To learn more about alcohol fuel production check out this site. http://running_on_alcohol.tripod.com

Canada

If trying to register a fuel alcohol still in Canada, contact the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency http://www.ccra-adrc.gc.ca - info available under Excise Tax.

You might try calling Chris Lewis ( fuel sector ) at 613-957-8642

You will need to obtain a licence for constructing or using any type of distillation equipment ( except that used for distilling water, but even that has to meet certain specs to avoid running afoul of the tax act )

I would suggest reading the Excise Tax Act ( also online ) boring as it may be, it contains a lot of info, which might help to know about before calling the folks at CCRA.

In any event, the regs here in Canada make it very troublesome to even attempt to do experimenting in any reasonable way. ( for example the vessel your fuel condenses into has to be locked and opened only when Excise Tax officer is there ....kind of hard if you want to check out quality of your batch... other roadblocks also will apply )

Holland

I took the liberty to make a compilation of relevant laws & penalties concerning distillation:

Wet van 31 oktober 1991, houdende vereenvoudiging en uniformering van de accijnswetgeving (Wet op de accijns [Versie geldig vanaf: 01-01-1999])

Afdeling 2. Algemene verbodsbepalingen

Artikel 5
• 1. Het is niet toegestaan:
  a. een accijnsgoed te vervaardigen buiten een accijnsgoederenplaats die voor dat soort accijnsgoed als zodanig is aangewezen;
  b. een accijnsgoed voorhanden te hebben dat niet overeenkomstig de bepalingen van deze wet in de heffing is betrokken.
• 2. Het verbod als bedoeld in het eerste lid, onderdeel a, is niet van toepassing indien het vervaardigen geschiedt overeenkomstig de wettelijke bepalingen, bedoeld in artikel 2, tweede lid, onderdeel a, van de Douanewet.
• 3. Onder bij algemene maatregel van bestuur te stellen voorwaarden en beperkingen wordt ontheffing verleend van de in het eerste lid bedoelde verboden voor:
  a. het vervaardigen van accijnsgoederen uit andere accijnsgoederen, waarbij het accijnsbedrag dat de eerstbedoelde accijnsgoederen vertegenwoordigen niet hoger is dan het accijnsbedrag dat de accijnsgoederen vertegenwoordigen waaruit zij zijn vervaardigd;
  b. het vervaardigen van accijnsgoederen waarvoor een vrijstelling van accijns geldt op de voet van artikel 65;
  c. het thuis vervaardigen van bier en wijn door particulieren, voor zover die goederen worden aangewend voor eigen gebruik;
  d. het vervaardigen en het voorhanden hebben van andere minerale oliën dan bedoeld in het vierde lid, mits deze minerale oliën niet op grond van artikel 28 worden gelijkgesteld met minerale oliën waarvoor in artikel 27 een tarief is vastgesteld


HOOFDSTUK VII. VERBODSBEPALINGEN EN STRAFBEPALINGEN

Afdeling 1. Verbodsbepalingen

Artikel 90
• 1. Het is niet toegestaan een distilleertoestel te vervaardigen of voorhanden te hebben zonder een daartoe strekkende vergunning van de inspecteur.
• 2. Onder een distilleertoestel wordt verstaan elk toestel - ook indien dit niet gereed is voor dadelijk gebruik - dat geschikt is voor het afscheiden van ethanol uit ethanolhoudende stoffen.
• 3. De vergunning wordt op verzoek verleend.
• 4. Het verlenen, het aanpassen en het intrekken van een vergunning alsmede het afwijzen van een verzoek daartoe geschieden bij voor bezwaar vatbare beschikking.
• 5. Binnen acht weken na ontvangst van het verzoek geeft de inspecteur een voor bezwaar vatbare beschikking op dat verzoek, dan wel zendt hij de in het zesde lid bedoelde kennisgeving.
• 6. Indien de inspecteur de voor bezwaar vatbare beschikking niet binnen de in het vijfde lid genoemde termijn kan geven, stelt hij belanghebbende daarvan onder opgaaf van redenen in kennis en noemt hij de termijn waarop de voor bezwaar vatbare beschikking wel zal worden gegeven.
• 7. Bij ministeriële regeling kunnen:
  a. regels worden gesteld met betrekking tot de in de vergunning op te nemen voorwaarden;
  b. distilleertoestellen worden aangewezen waarvoor geen vergunning is vereist.
• 8. Artikel 83 is van overeenkomstige toepassing op plaatsen waar distilleertoestellen worden vervaardigd of voorhanden zijn.
Afdeling 2. Strafbepalingen

Artikel 97

Degene die opzettelijk een in artikel 5 opgenomen verbod overtreedt, wordt gestraft met gevangenisstraf van ten hoogste vier jaren of geldboete van de vierde categorie of, indien dit bedrag hoger is, ten hoogste eenmaal het bedrag van de te weinig geheven accijns.

Artikel 98

Degene die opzettelijk een accijnsgoed waarvoor vrijstelling of teruggaaf van accijns is verleend een bestemming geeft waarvoor geen vrijstelling of teruggaaf van accijns zou zijn verleend, wordt gestraft met gevangenisstraf van ten hoogste vier jaren of geldboete van de vierde categorie of, indien dit bedrag hoger is, ten hoogste eenmaal het bedrag van de te weinig geheven accijns.

Artikel 99

1. Degene die het in artikel 90, eerste lid, opgenomen verbod overtreedt, wordt gestraft met geldboete van de derde categorie.

2. Degene die het in artikel 90, eerste lid, opgenomen verbod overtreedt terwijl hij weet of redelijkerwijs kan weten dat het distilleertoestel bestemd is of zal worden bestemd om te worden gebruikt tot ontduiking van de accijns, wordt gestraft met gevangenisstraf van ten hoogste vier jaren of geldboete van de vierde categorie.

Artikel 100

1. Degene die een in de artikelen 90a, 91, eerste en tweede lid, of 92 opgenomen verbod overtreedt, wordt gestraft met geldboete van de derde categorie.

2. Degene die een van de in het eerste lid bedoelde verboden opzettelijk overtreedt, wordt gestraft met gevangenisstraf van ten hoogste twee jaren of geldboete van de vierde categorie.

This is not the complete text of this law, just a compilation. I am not a legal expert, nor connected with any law firm or customs. I just want to share this knowledge with you.

Greetings Erwin

Of course it is prohibited to have an unregistered installation to make any alcoholic drink at all as told in the dutch text. You may not make wine, beer of any other drink at all without a permid. The regulation is made to collect taxes on the drinks.

In the case that one make his own drinks for use at home and not for sale there is no big fiscal interest at stake and the inspection (represented by Mr H. Blijker 21 Apr 1987) has therefore no interest to stop the activity. (it costs more than it brings) So if you stay small and don't show it to much in publik (to provoke) you don't have to fear for problems. It is called: "gedogen"

United Kingdom (UK)

I took the trouble to look this up a while ago in 'Halsbury's Laws of England' which is the legal encyclopaedia used by the courts and lawyers in general. It is very authoritative. Basically, the situation is this. You can't distill alcohol without a rectifier's licence (Alcoholic Liquor Duties Act 1979 s18(1)).

If you do and are caught you will be liable to pay the duty on the alcohol in the spirits you make (currently £19.56 per litre) and to pay a fine of whichever is the greater of £250 and 5% of the duty payable. (Finance Act 1994 s9(2)). Forget getting a license. There are rules about how large (or rather how small) the still can be which would render any home device unlawful and in any case you'd have to pay the duty which sort of defeats the object. As far as I can ascertain, you are not committing a criminal offence by distilling alcohol. All the above are civil matters. I assume that Customs and Excise would seize all your product and your equipment too.

In short, you might say that the consequences of a raid on a genuine hobby distiller making liquor for him or herself would be embarrassing but not necessarily disastrous. As for the likelihood of getting caught; well I have never heard of a case in my lifetime (I'm 47). My own guess is that the Customs an Excise are far too busy chasing drugs and liquor smugglers and dealing with VAT fraud to bother with a small time....... Hang on, there's someone at the door.

Venezuela

In this parts we have a rather "folkloric" approach to the illegality of both still making and its use. In small towns like mine (where most of the moonshining occurs) it mainly depends on if you get to befriend your local chief of the "Guardia Nacional" (exactly translates to National Guard but it's a wholly different institution than the US namesake. This is a branch of our military that polices civilians and is like a heavily armed combination of IRS and ATF). If the guy likes you, you can strike a deal with him and tacitly accept that he would be "milking" you whenever he gets a tip from an envious neighbor (there must be a way to hide that smell!), or, if you produce with a certain regularity, brace yourself to be his cash-box. Sometimes, and depending also on his drinking/eating habits, you can get away with him only taking some "samples", others, some small living-stock or farm produce, but if you produce to sell he would only take cash. "Mordida" as mexicans call this deeply ingrained form of petty corruption is widespread here but not universal. Worse luck if your local "Guardia" chief gets relocated and you get a new teetotaler one.

Legally you must purchase your still from a registered manufacturer and pay the equivalent of US $7700 upon opting for a license and pay half that annually for renewal. Excise is 9.5 % of your retail price (plus 14.5 % VAT). You can't distill legally unless you're able to produce at least 50,000 liters annually.

Israel

In Israel not that many people drink. Spirits are dirt cheap (you can pick up a bottle of Vodka for a couple of bucks (US). The Muslim population (20%) do not drink at all .

The bottom line is: There is no actual checkup or enforcement on people who want to set up their own private still.

As a chemical engineer who is in charge of the poisons license at my company, the law states that a poisons license for someone who has Ethanol on their premises, up to 200Liters of over 80%/vol does not need a license. If you produce a spirit that is over 80%/vol, then you need to declare this to the Ministry of the Environment.